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Monday, January 16, 2012

Reading List

Every once in a while, I'll get questions about this mammoth reading list that I've mentioned, but which never have posted before. So, for the first time ever, I'm going to post the contents of the file on my PC called, Books I Own But Haven't Read.doc. This is, of course, a point in time document. Because I'm frequently distracted by library books, shows I'm watching or streaming, and just other things that are going on, I don't update this as frequently as I should, but about twice a month an update of some kind or another is due; either crossing a book off that I've just read, or adding a few books on that I just bought. (As an aside, I'm sitting on a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card right now and another $100 from Amazon, so I'll have a few additions soon.)

I've broken my list up into categories, which if nothing else, makes it easier for me to digest. The first (and presently smallest) category is gaming books. By this I don't mean gaming fiction; I mean actual gaming books.

Rokugan Campaign Setting

Complete Psionic

I expect a few soon to be made purchases of Paizo stuff will add to that list in a few weeks. I'm holding out for another release to order everything at once and get free shipping.

Next, game or tie-in fiction. Some of these I've picked up in odd ways; used book stores, or whatever, so there's often little rhyme or reason to what I have.

Predator: Big Game

Aliens vs. Predator: Hunter's Planet

Aliens: Rogue

Nagash the Sorcerer

Nagash the Unbroken

Nagash Immortal

Vampire Wars: the Von Carstein Trilogy

Master of Devils

Horus Rising

Doom of Kings

Word of Traitors

Tyranny of Ghosts

The Temple of the Yellow Skull

Oath of Vigilance

If you're very clued in, you'll see that I have a few incomplete series there, which means that--assuming that they're not terrible--I've got a few additions to buy to complete them.

Next, the controversial section of my list--books that I've read before, but not since I've bought the copy that I own now. Curiously, this includes the book(s) that I've read most--the Lord of the Rings, since I retired my broken and worn old copies a couple of years ago and took possession of a "like new" set from my brother, who didn't want them anymore.

Transit to Scorpio

Fellowship of the Ring

The Two Towers

The Return of the King

Unfinished Tales

Dracula

Ill-Met in Lankmar

Small Favor

Turn Coat

Changes

Return of the Black Company

The Many Deaths of the Black Company

Scar Night

Next, I have books that I legitimately haven't ever read before, and which clearly belong to the science fiction (or more specifically--usually--fantasy) genre. However, this does include my Lovecraft collections, which is a little disingenuous, since I've read most of the stories individually in other formats. But not 100% of them, so I consider the entire book "unread" for purposes of this list.

Iron Angel

God of Clocks

The Stepsister Scheme

Lords of Destruction

Tooth & Claw

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Kull: Exile of Atlantis

Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

Looking Glass Wars

Cthulhu's Reign

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

Dreams of Terror and Death

The Road to Madness

The Best of H.P. Lovecraft

The Horror in the Museum

Year's Best SF 10

Empress

Way of Shadows

Mistborn

Winterbirth

You may also notice that I have the first book of a few larger series on that list. Pending approval (i.e., I like the first book sufficiently) that list will eventually need books two and three (or whatever numbers they happen to be) added to the list.

The next small set of books are some that I got for free at work, usually from some coworker who was done with them, and which are kinda sorta genre-related; although I suspect that some of them will turn out to be more supernatural romance oriented than I hope (and if so, I may not finish them all.)

Search the Shadows

Wait For What Will Come

Those Who Hunt the Night

The Love Talker

Sons of the Wolf

Dark Tower III: Wasteland

Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass

I've read the first Dark Tower book (and not particularly liked it) and naturally, I won't read books III and IV without picking up II somewhere. Those are pretty iffy; again, given that I didn't really like the first one. But for now, I've got them, so I have to list them.

Next, I've got some non-genre books that I came across from various sources; usually given to me by someone or other. These tend to mostly be mainstream thriller type books.

1st to Die

Certain Prey

State of Fear

The Eye of the Tiger

Lost Light

London Bridges

And my final category are some free Kindle books that I have, which belong to the Lost Tribe of the Sith tie-in series. Clearly, they are Star Wars themed books. All of them have The Lost Tribe of the Sith as part of the title, but since it's repetitive, I'll omit it from the list, and just have the portion of the title that comes after the colon. Because they are fairly short, I'll probably actually read them all, even if they're not very good. Which, as free promotional short novels, I don't really expect them to be.

Precipice

Skyborn

Paragon

Savior

Purgatory

Sentinel

There you have it. My list--as of right now. Within a week or two, it'll probably change. And frankly, it'll probably have more additions before it has any deletions, I'm somewhat sad to say. And another comment; you may also notice that there's more than a few omnibus type collections in there, so in a way, the list is somewhat understated by at least six titles.

1 comment:

Although I haven't pushed "go" on the order, I've got $50 worth of stuff sitting in my online shopping cart at Barnes & Noble, including four Paizo items; two game books (Book of the Damned 3, and Dragon Empires Gazeteer) and two fiction tie-in novels (Death's Heretic and The Worldwould Gambit.) I think it likely that later today I'll stop being wishy-washy and go ahead and order them. So, the list increases by four.

In addition, I'm starting to listen to some Clive Cussler books as CDs from the library while commuting, both to give myself something out of the genre to keep me busy, and to give me something to do besides listen to music on my phone all the time while commuting. I can get almost an hour's worth of listening done each day I work, so it seemed like a smart way to go.

I've also put that up on the side, in place of the On Deck bar. The On Deck started seeming kinda flaky, since I changed my plan as often as not and didn't read what was listed as next. I might also add a Kindle What I'm Reading bar, since I am reading those Lost Tribe of the Sith books, but I haven't decided if I really want to go that route yet or not.

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."